Friday, August 31, 2012

With rise of Morsy, a new dictatorship may be replacing the old while world persists in looking for signs of pragmatism.

While
the world persists in looking for signs of pragmatism in the Egyptian
president, Mohamed Morsy is quietly taking over all the power bases in
the country.

Having gotten rid of the army old guard, he replaced them with
his own men – officers belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood or known
sympathizers. Then he turned his attention to the media, replacing 50
editors working for the government’s extensive and influential press
empire – including Al- Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Gomhuria. He is now busy appointing new governors to the 27 regions of the country.

Hosni Mubarak used to choose retired generals he could depend on
for these sensitive posts; Morsy is hand picking party faithful. At the
same time upper echelons in government ministries and economic and
cultural organizations are methodically being replaced. The Muslim
Brotherhood is fast assuming total control. For many observers, the
deployment of army units in Sinai is more about proclaiming Egyptian
sovereignty in the face of Israel than actually fighting Islamic
terrorism.

Drafting the new constitution is their next objective. Brothers
and Salafis make up an absolute majority in the Constituent Assembly.
Liberal and secular forces are boycotting its sessions, and the Supreme
Constitutional Court is examining a request to have it dissolved since
it does not conform to the constitution because of its overly Islamic
composition; a decision is expected in September.

The assembly, however, is not waiting. According to various
leaks it is putting the final touch to a constitution where all laws
have to conform to the Shari’a and special committees will supervise the
media and forbid any criticism of Islam and of the Prophet. In the
wings is the creation of a Committee of Islamic Sages supervising the
law-making process and in effect voiding of substance the parliament
elected by the people, though it is not clear yet if, when and how it
will work. What is clear is that a parliament made of flesh and blood
individuals is against the very nature of the Shari’a, where all laws
are based on the Koran and the hadiths. This is a far cry from the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Morsy has been careful to speak about creating “a civil
society”; it is now obvious that what he meant was a society not ruled
by the army, and not a secular society. Indeed he had promised to
appoint a woman and a Copt as vice presidents, but chose Mohamed Maki, a
Sunni known for his sympathy for the Brotherhood and incidentally or
not the brother of the new minister of justice, Prof. Ahmed Maki, known
for his independent stands and opposition to Mubarak, but who had
carefully concealed his support for the Brothers.

It is worth stressing that the Brotherhood is still operating
under conditions of utmost secrecy, as it had been doing during the
decades of persecution. How it is getting its funds, who are its members
and how they are recruited is not known, nor is its decision-taking
process. The movement has no legal existence since Gamal Abdel Nasser
officially disbanded it in 1954.

That state of affairs was not changed while the Supreme Council
of the Armed Forces ruled the country, since apparently the movement did
not apply for recognition, fearing perhaps it would have to reveal some
of its secrets. Now that it has created its own political party, that
the members of that party make up nearly 50 percent of the parliament
and that one of their own has been elected president, can the movement
remain in the shadows?

Morsy did announce that he was resigning from the Brotherhood,
but there is no doubt that he will remain true to the tenets and the
commands of its leaders. This is making people increasingly uneasy. They
had other expectations of the revolution.

Opposition to an Islamic regime is growing, though it is far
from being united. The three small liberal parties that had had very
little success in the parliamentary elections have now set up a new
front, The Third Way, to fight the Brotherhood’s takeover. Hamdeen
Sabahi, leader of the nationalistic Karama (Dignity) Party, who had
garnered 18% of the votes in the first round of the presidential
election, has launched “The Popular Current” promoting the old Nasserist
pan-Arab ideology.

Some of the nongovernmental media are vocal in their criticism
of Morsy, though it can be costly: Private television station Al-
Pharaein – “the Pharaohs” – was shut down after it called to get rid of
Morsy; its owner, Tawfik Okasha, well known for his hostility to the
Brothers (and to Israel) and who called for a massive demonstration this
Friday, was put under house arrest, as was the editor of the daily
Al-Dostour that had criticized the president. The editors of two other
dailies – Al-Fajer and Saut el-Umma – were questioned. Other papers such as Al-Akhbar
stopped publishing opinion pieces from their regular collaborators
known for their opposition to the Brothers; well-known publicists left
their page blank in a gesture of solidarity for their colleagues.

Morsy knows that his takeover will strengthen the opposition. He
has not forgotten that he barely mustered 25% of the votes in the first
round of the presidential election – down from the nearly 50% who voted
for his party’s candidates in the parliamentary elections. He also
knows that the people are no longer afraid to take to the streets to
protest – and that it is now said that a new dictatorship is replacing
the old – the only difference being that the new ruler has a beard....

However, for now he is devoting all his energy to his fight with
the judiciary, long known for its independent stands. The Supreme
Constitutional Court is being asked to rule the Brotherhood Movement
illegal, and therefore to proclaim that the Liberty and Justice party it
created – and which won 50% of the seats in the parliament – is illegal
as well, and therefore to invalidate the election of Morsy, candidate
of a movement and a party that are both illegal. Morsy sent his new
justice minister to browbeat the court, but the judges refused to back
down. The president is now working to limit the prerogatives of the
court in the new constitution and will start “retiring” senior justices
appointed by Mubarak.

Friday’s demonstration will be the first real test for the
Brotherhood. It is taking no chances and security forces will be
deployed around its institutions throughout the country. A cleric at
Al-Azhar issued a fatwa calling for the killing of whoever protests
against the rule of the Brotherhood; the resulting uproar was such that
he was disavowed by some of the leaders of the movement. However,
whatever happens Friday will not deter them from their goal – a
thoroughly Islamist Egypt.

The Republican National Convention featured strong women reverently
proclaiming God has blessed America and our need to follow His grace
back to where He wants us to be.

The wholesomeness of the real America was highlighted by the many
good decent women who rose to speak. We heard female governors, a female
former cabinet member, and loving wives tell us they understand the
threat the current administration is to real America. These Republican
women showed America they understand personal matters are to be kept
personal; love of country is their open passion.

The RNC celebrated real families with strong women who are part of
real families who love and protect children. In contrast, the Democrat
National Convention will give us a three-day “Vagina Monologues”
celebrating the most grotesque of the Left’s positions.

The DNC will give us a lesbian, an abortionist, a condom queen, a
phony “Catholic” a women who has spent her life smiling while men
destroyed the women in her family, an actress best known for promoting
adultery, and a woman who thinks “You didn’t build that.”

Sandra Fluke sees freedom as having others pay for the condoms her dozens of weekly lovers use to please her.

Nancy Keenan,
President of NARAL Pro-Choice America: once a Special Education teacher
caring for America’s most vulnerable children who now supports killing
special needs children before they are born.

Lilly Ledbetter will
remind viewers that women on Barack Obama’s White House staff are paid
18% less than men in violation of the law named after her.

Caroline Kennedy has
spent her whole life silently smiling while the men in her family have
abused woman, including her own mother; she has called Barack Obama a
LIAR.

Eva Longoria, best known for using her acting talents to celebrate adultery on “Desperate Housewives”.

2016: The Next GOP Generation

The future of the Republican Party was on display in Tampa, Fla., as the roll of speakers before Mitt Romney provided a preview of nomination battles in 2016 and beyond.

Let's just say it: Paul Ryan hit it out of the park, delivering at long last what so many in the base have been hungering for: He didn't just attack -- he vivisected the Obama administration.

"I have never seen opponents so silent about their record, and so desperate to keep their power," Ryan said. "They've run out of ideas. Their moment came and went."

Red meat is the traditional veep specialty, but Ryan's attack was so rooted in undeniable big truths, it never came off as personal.

"The first troubling sign came with the stimulus. It was President Obama's first and best shot at fixing the economy, at a time when he got everything he wanted under one-party rule. It cost $831 billion -- the largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government.

"It went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs and make-believe markets. ... What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted -- it was borrowed, spent and wasted."

He went on:

"College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. ... None of us have to settle for the best this administration offers -- a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us."

Ryan's political future is now tied to Mitt Romney's success, that's the downside of being veep nominee.

Rick Santorum, who may be back in 2016 or 2020, delivered a rich, moving speech that showed why social and economic conservatism are not disjointed fragments cobbled together by electoral expediency, but together form a coherent governing philosophy, including this on marriage:

"Marriage is disappearing in places where dependency is the highest. Most single mothers do heroic work and an amazing job raising their children. But if America is going to succeed, we must stop the assault on marriage and the family in America today."

He, too, is an intellectual leader to watch for in the future.

But the biggest disappointment so far was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Christie's speech was exceptionally self-involved, bragging not only about his record but his bluster, and his mom.

"My mom, she was tough as nails and didn't suffer fools at all -- and truth was, she couldn't afford to. She spoke the truth, bluntly directly and without much varnish. I am her son."

Truth-telling as a brand has its limitations, especially when the truths close to Christie's heart are so gloomy.

"Paralyzed by our desire to be loved," he said, too many politicians think it's "more important to be popular, to say and do what's easy and say 'yes' rather than to say 'no' when 'no' is what is required."

We all have to share the sacrifice, he lectured. And on Medicare, he claimed Granny is willing.

"Seniors are not selfish. They believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. So they prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with misinformation for the cynical purpose of winning the next election."

Ann Romney that Tuesday night may have wanted to talk about love, but Christie was having none of it: "Tonight, we choose respect over love."

I don't think that's the speech of a winning presidential candidate. Not while women have the vote, anyway.

The breakout speaker of this convention may well have been the mayor of tiny Saratoga Springs, Utah -- ironically, a woman named Mia Love. She is a black Mormon convert, an articulate and attractive woman's voice for our shared American story:

"Our story has been told for over 200 years, with small steps and giant leaps, from a woman on the bus to a man with a dream, from the bravery of the greatest generation to the innovators and entrepreneurs of today," she said. "This is our story, this is our America, this is the America we know because we built it."

The Ryan Vision: Let's Get This Done

The Democrats and their mainstream media cheering section
can huff and puff at Paul Ryan's convention speech, but they can't blow
his house down. It was built on a solid foundation.

So powerful was the speech that the liberal establishment is
reduced to wailing about alleged lies the speech contained -- dishonest
and easily refuted allegations. Ryan delivered a substantive indictment
of the Obama administration's failed record and a content-rich,
realistic plan for putting this nation back on track to economic growth
and fiscal recovery, a plan that includes "protecting and strengthening"
Medicare, not "raiding" it.

Don't listen to the naysayers. Ryan began with a humble
acceptance of his "calling" and "duty" to help restore America. His
message was positive. "I know we can do this," he said, not dwelling on
the malaise in which Obama's disastrous policies have placed us but
offering a specific blueprint to deliver us from this quicksand.

He carried forward this same theme throughout the speech: He
said that when he accepted the nomination, he told Mitt Romney, "Let's
get this done"; and in closing the speech, he converted the slogan into a
formal offer to the American people, promising that if elected, he and
Romney would put America back on a path to fiscal redemption.

Ryan offered a succinct but irrefutable critique of Obama's
economic record: 23 million unemployed or underemployed, 1 in 6
Americans living in poverty and one-half of college graduates unable to
find work they've studied for or any work at all.

More importantly, he emphasized that Obama has no new ideas
to deliver us from this quagmire. Under a second Obama term, nothing
would change -- Obamanomics being but a ship trying to sail on
yesterday's wind.

Obama's grandiose stimulus plan, involving "the largest
one-time expenditure of the federal government," not only didn't work to
create jobs but also took us into deeper debt. The money wasn't "just
spent and wasted; it was borrowed, spent and wasted." Instead of giving
us the jobs we needed, he forced Obamacare on us against our will, and
he gave us Solyndra and its ilk -- replete with corporate welfare,
political patronage, cronyism and "make-believe markets." Indeed.

Obama's stimulus debacle was a microcosm -- albeit a
gargantuan one -- of the ideas that Obama has advanced and that Romney
and Ryan would reject in favor of America's founding ideals. Ryan was
eloquent in articulating the contrast. Under Obama, he said, the
government has tried to divide up wealth. Under Romney and Ryan,
Americans -- not government -- would create wealth.

Ryan
expanded on the contrast, saying that Obama sees America as a place
where everyone is stuck in some class or station in life, victims of
circumstances beyond their control, with government there to help them
cope with their fate.

The new administration, he assured us, would give us the
exact opposite -- a land where government is limited (to 20 percent of
gross domestic product) and liberty is championed. He weaved in the
story of his own family experiences and his mother -- his "role model"
-- to personalize the point. He urged us not to buy Obama's message and
record of despair and to reject the stifling notion that we can't do any
better -- ideas wholly inconsistent with Ryan's personal experiences
and the lessons his parents taught him.

Ryan said, in essence, "How dare you tell me and other
Americans we have to accept whatever circumstances we find ourselves in
and not try to improve our lots in life?" He said, "I was on my own
path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for
myself, decide for myself and define happiness for myself." In other
words, in the America in which Ryan grew up and that he and Romney will
try to restore, no government and no politician will predefine limits on
economic growth and individual liberties -- above all, the pursuit of
happiness.

Ryan said that the American dream is grounded in freedom, not
a planned economy in which equal outcomes are sought in lieu of equal
opportunity. He underscored not simply that central planning doesn't
work but that it's morally inferior, contrary to the claims and
"sanctimony" of its leftist proponents.

Ryan promised that they would lead on the tough issues and be
men of action -- rather than of endless empty rhetoric -- and would
spend the next four years not blaming others but taking responsibility.
They would immediately end the current administration's practice of
replacing our founding principles and begin to reapply those principles.

Obama tells us that Republicans want a smaller America, but
as Ryan conclusively demonstrated in his speech, it is Obama who
envisions a limited, anemic America with a finite pie, incapable of a
robust economic future.

In Romney and Ryan's America -- as in Ronald Reagan's, Jack
Kemp's and Condoleezza Rice's -- "it doesn't matter where you came from;
it matters where you're going."

“Mr. Chairman and delegates, I formally accept the nomination for president!”

And so Mitt Romney officially became the Republican nominee for president in a show of Republican unity that brought the house down.

"America has been patient," Romney told the nation. "Americans have supported this president in good faith. But today, the time has come to turn the page."

And how right he is.

Starting off the night with more top Republican players like Newt Gingrich (“We cannot settle for anything less than victory this November."), to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush ("Mitt Romney gets it...that every parent needs to send their kid to a school that meets their needs.") to Romney campaign chair Bob White ("Mitt Romney is the right man at the right time to be President of the United States."), to Romney’s friends, fellow church elders, associates from his business life and people who worked for him when he was governor of Massachusetts who all paid tribute to his compassion and charity, people who put a human side to the man who some claim is stoic and wooden but who in reality is anything but.

And all these led up the hightlights of the evening starting with ‘mystery guest’ Clint Eastwood.But before ‘Dirty Harry’ spoke, a biographical videotape showing the personal side of the life of Mitt Romney and his family was shown including family pictures of his sons and family life, and also included a heartfelt and frank discussion of Ann Romney’s struggle with multiple sclerosis. The was a powerful video showing the true moral character, values, and beliefs of the man who I believe will be our next president, yet the msm networks did NOT show it...and you can guess why.

Clint Eastwood...what can you say about a Hollywood icon who dares to buck the Hollywood liberal elite by standing strong with Mitt Romney.Infusing humor, "Biden is the intellect of the Democratic party" with seriousness, "You and me own this country...NOT politicians" to downright fortitude, "When someone does NOT do their job we've got to let them go" Clint Eastwood brought the audience to its feet and led the way to a man who fired up the audience like none before.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whose senatorial campaign I was proud volunteer on, gave a speech that brought tears to your eyes, a pounding to your heart, and brought the house down. "Our problem is not that Obama is a bad person but that he is a bad president" started Rubio and he was off and running.

Stepping into the national spotlight with a speech focusing on how America is an ‘exceptional’ country, Marco spoke of his parents’ journey from Cuba to the United States as proof that America is indeed an exceptional country.“The dreams he had when he was young became impossible to achieve,” Marco said of his Cuban-born grandfather, the man with whom he watched his first GOP convention with in 1980. “But there was no limit to how far I could go, because I was an American.”

And what an American Marco Rubio is and we here in Florida could not be prouder of the man who, like Paul Ryan, represents the future of the Republican Party.

Marco told how Obama’s signature agenda items, such as the national health-care law known as ObamaCare and the economic stimulus represent “ideas that people come to America to get away from.”

“No matter how you feel about President Obama, this election is about your future, not about his, and this election is not simply a choice between a Democrat and a Republican...it’s a choice about what kind of country we want America to be,” Marco said.

He added, “We’re special because dreams that are impossible anywhere else, come true here.” And those dreams are the basis of America’s greatness and exceptionalism, something Barack Hussein Obama seems to forget.

Marco praised Romney at length in his speech, culminating with the words, “And in November...Mitt Romney, will be elected president of these United States,” said to boisterous cheers from the crowd.

With the room on fire, Mitt Romney gave both a spirited and personal speech after an entrance that was both presidential and people-friendly as he came out through the crowd NOT down some grand staircase and pillars as another had done.

"Now is the time to restore the promise of America," Romney said to a nation struggling with unemployment and the slowest economic recovery in decades.

"I wish President Obama had succeeded, because I want America to succeed," Romney said. "But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. ... We deserve better."

Yes we do.

"The centerpiece of the president's campaign is to attack success.In America we celebrate success...we don't apologize for success."

NO we don’t for success is what makes America great.Success stories abound, personal stories of people coming to this country with nothing and ending up living the American dream...personal stories of hopes and dreams fulfilled...stories that drive home the point that ‘WE built it NOT the government!’

"What America needs is jobs, lots of jobs," Romney said. "To the majority of Americans who now believe that the future will not be better than the past, I can guarantee you this: if Barack Obama is re-elected, you will be right.""The president is disappointing America because...he had NO experience how to run a business...jobs to him are about government."

Mitt Romney was on fire!

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet,” Romney said, “My promise is to help you and your family.”

And the room was on its feet as that crowd knew that that is a promise that Mitt Romney will keep.

"Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, 'I'm an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better. My country deserves better!”

I was applauding along with those in the room as I saw greatness in this man...a decent humble man who truly believes in America and in Americans.

Yes we deserve better, yes our children deserve better, and yes our country deserves better, and under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration America’s greatness WILL be restored to her. Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration Americans WILL be put back to work as jobs are created. Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration America will become a respected world leader again with NO apologies given for her actions.Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration class divisiveness WILL end, women will NOT be used as political fodder, religious beliefs WILL be respected and honored without government intrusion, and the ‘can-do’ spirit of individual achievement will be encouraged.

Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration our military WILL be restored to her former glory and become a force to be feared NOT mocked and degraded.Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration American exceptionalism will lead us forward to a bright future...a future based upon the law of our Constitution...a future based upon our Creator and our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness NOT a bleak future riddled with class warfare, racial tensions, and the majority dependent on the government for their survival.

Under a ROMNEY/RYAN administration all things will become possible as we will believe in ourselves again...we will believe in America again...we will be proud of our president again!

The Patriot Factor

I’m an American Patriot who refuses to let our beloved country be changed into something unrecognizable to us by a man who wants to radically change and destroy our America and take away our children’s future. We patriots ARE the grassroots movement and we bloggers must spread the truth about the corrupt and traitorous Obama regime and his sanctioned islamization of America before it’s too late.
I'm also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on CPR Worldwide Media and co-head of CPR's Journalism Department again with Craig Andresen.